Farmer rents animals to school: chickens as stars in the schoolyard
Created: 06/07/2022 15:02
By: Michael Seeholzer
Karl, Dearn, Velentin and Thomas (from left) take care of the chickens that are currently enjoying life at the Johann Comenius School in Grafing.
A task that the children are happy to take on.
© Stefan Rossmann
The Johann Comenius Support Center in Grafing wants to bring schoolchildren and animals closer together with an unusual nature project.
Grafing - What does a zero on an egg mean?
What birds do we have?
What does a near-natural habitat look like?
And what care do domestic chickens actually need?
The fourth graders at the Johann Comenius Support Center in Grafing know the answers to these questions.
"Our facility is also designed to teach everyday skills," explains headmaster Josef Klinger.
Visit to the classroom.
Teacher Gabriele Müller explains the “chicken project” to her students.
Müller found a company that rents out domestic chickens.
Four of them are currently scratching around in the school yard on a fenced-in property.
On it stands a decorative chicken coop with drinking trough and integrated egg tray.
Today's yield is two eggs.
The chickens have a name.
Their names are Ursel, Uschi, Evi and Heidi.
"Ursel is the boss," explains Müller.
The company “handle my hendl” provided this equipment and the four animals at a price of a good 300 euros for three weeks.
The animals stay in Grafing for four weeks.
The company is based in Buch am Erlbach near Landshut.
Chickens need a house, a place to rest and people to lay eggs
Teacher Gabriele Müller and Dominik with fresh eggs at the school's chicken coop.
© Stefan Rossmann
"We are the first school in Bavaria to which the company rents its chickens," explains the Grafinger teacher proudly.
In other federal states, chickens are sometimes loaned to retirement homes.
"We mucked out the stable, changed the water and cleaned the ladder," reports the student Valentin.
"We also rewarded the chickens with mealworms." That wasn't entirely unselfish.
Finally, the students want to “pick up and stroke” the chickens.
that doesn't quite work yet.
What do chickens need to lay eggs?
"A house, peace, space and people who take care of them," the students know.
"And they need fodder, alfalfa or clover," adds Thomas.
Vanessa knows what you can do with eggs in the kitchen.
When asked about this, she says: "Pancakes and Kaiserschmarrn".
The class is made up of international students, which is why recipes from their respective home countries are also mentioned.
Many students report that their grandparents also kept chickens.
Birdhouse with webcam
In the evening the chicken coop has to be locked so that no fox has the idea of stealing the children's lesson chickens.
"The teacher has to do that because some of the children have to travel longer distances to school by bus," reports Müller.
Two teams have been divided for the chicken service.
But chickens aren't the only thing on the curriculum.
The local bird world was also examined.
For this purpose, birdhouses were hung up at a dizzy height on the school building.
"Even with a webcam," reports headmaster Klinger.
In this way, it was possible to watch on the classroom screen how the birds were raising their offspring in the nest boxes.
Now they have flown out, the webcam shows an empty house.
"It was great tits and starlings," the students now know.
Aids for swifts and swallows are also planned
"We also want to set up nesting aids for swallows and swifts," says Müller about the next project, which the students are really looking forward to.
At the moment, however, the four chickens are the stars on the school grounds.
"Please be quiet and don't touch the fence," the children wrote on a piece of paper.
In addition, picture walls were made on which the lessons were shown again.
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